This is written by user Ghoulish. Thanks for the idea and the writing! (and sorry, that it tooks nearly a week to publish it).
I see this as an experiment (in the positive sense), it can work, that the users are so disciplined... but if someone want to have a look on it (moderate) this please PM me.

We've had a lot of new players joining us since Factorio was released on Steam (welcome one and all!). And with this in mind I've decided to open a thread where the community can ask and answer simple questions.

Before asking a question

Always use the forum search (you can search also with google) as a first port of call. It spares you in most cases some time.

Please do spend a few minutes looking through the F.A.Q as you'll likely find your question has already been asked and answered!

Remember the wiki. Updating the wiki is universally appreciated and something we'd like to strongly encourage you all to do!

There is also the support pages the developers provide (and which is sometimes more actual ).

What is known to be the most efficient furnace layout?
I use 40 stone furnaces per yellow belt. According to my math, 40 stone furnaces should produce approx. 12 plates / second. A yellow belt have 13,33 items / sec. This should work, but I have problems with belt compression. Whats the easiest/most efficient way to compress a belt?

It takes input from resource container (chest, storage tank for liquids, other combinators) and outputs a custom signal. This allows programming production logic. Simply wire combinator outputs to smart inserters or simple (liquid) pumps or water pumps or lights etc to control resource consumption.

I'm not sure if this belongs in the mods section so forgive me if it does, but I was curious; is it possible to make a custom campaign-like scenario in which custom text appears on screen, like it does in the actual campaign? And what about the hints that require you to press tab? Is there any way to make those yourself in map editor or in a script file?
And what about starting inventory for the player?
If you feel the answer would be too long, feel free to just direct me to a webpage with the answer.
Any help is much appreciated!
Thanks

And apologies in advance if this is a commonly answered question, but I looked around the internet for a while and couldn't find anything on the subject.

Would anyone know if I would be able to change the frequency of enemy base spawning on an existing map? I have a map that I am playing and set the frequency to low. I am realizing this is a mistake and would like to change it. I looked through the console commands and didnt see anything that stood out. I also tried to search, but it seems to forum doesnt like it when I search.

Hello guys,
I hope someone can help me out.
i got a pretty big problem with the labs.. I mean with the automatecly filling .
The inserter is placed the right way, everything is fine bust this fckn lab won't fill.
Did i miss some setings ?
Here's a Pic.http://imgur.com/V9qeCAT

harimpoo wrote:Hello guys,
I hope someone can help me out.
i got a pretty big problem with the labs.. I mean with the automatecly filling .
The inserter is placed the right way, everything is fine bust this fckn lab won't fill.
Did i miss some setings ?
Here's a Pic.http://imgur.com/V9qeCAT

You need to start a research first (press T), then the inserter will insert the science packs required.